A CITY pastor has urged the oil industry and local businesses to provide more training or handouts after being forced to open a food bank to help "starving" people.

Barry Douglas, chaplain of Aberdeen FC and pastor at Kings Community Church in the city, is "horrified" by the poverty in the oil capital of Europe, particularly in the community of Seaton on the fringes of more affluent Old Aberdeen.

The food bank was officially opened by Labour leader Johann Lamont who is campaigning against benefit changes which Mr Douglas says have hit the local community hard.

"Scottish neighbourhood statistics show that 29 per cent of people in Seaton are below the poverty line," he said.

"As a minister I see many needs in the community and one of the biggest needs is, believe it or not, food.

"People were starving, which may sound horrifying in the oil capital of Europe but that's the nature of where we are today.

"Sadly, food banks are the one area that is growing in Scotland because of the introduction of benefit changes that affect Seaton in a very big way.

"The bedroom tax is a classic example. The vast number of properties in Seaton are two-bedroom properties and if you're just a husband and wife, or a single person, in two-bedroom property, this is where it's hitting people hard.

"People who are already struggling on a small amount of benefits, £67.50 a week, are then suddenly having to find extra money to make up the shortfall because they have an extra bedroom.

"There's around 2,000 local authority houses in Seaton, with really no private residential property, so it's affecting the people very hard.

"Not far away is Old Aberdeen which is very affluent and very close to Aberdeen University."

He called on the wealthier sections of Aberdeen society to help out.

"We need to get people the right skillsets through training, or get people to be more generous with their wealth in helping people.

"We're fortunate to have some tremendous partners such as Aberdeen Football Club, and various oil and gas companies are very interested in what we're doing and trying to raise our profile.

"Already I've had requests from staff from the large oil and gas companies to help with food collection days at the supermarkets, or help in the warehouse unpacking the food.

"The Aberdeen public has shown immense support in that we've collected three tons of food in just one weekend at Tesco."

Ms Lamont said: "We know that the economy is performing strongly in the north-east, and the oil and gas sector presents great opportunities for Scotland by creating new jobs and skills.

"Part of the reason for this visit is to help understand how we can support the industry and ensure that Aberdeen and the rest of Scotland can benefit from these opportunities.

"But we also recognise that not everyone in Aberdeen is benefiting from this boom and even in areas of plenty, we still have great poverty."